Eleanor Margaret Burbidge. 12 August 1919—5 April 2020

Abstract

Margaret Burbidge was one of the great observational astronomers of the twentieth century. She had a natural aptitude for instrumentation, observation and the interpretation of spectroscopic data, coupled with an instinct for making optimum use of the observing facilities to which she gained access. Following her rigorous training in observational astrophysics and managing the University of London Observatory, she and Geoff Burbidge (FRS 1968), whom she married in 1948, led a peripatetic life for the following decade or more. During this time they made their most important pioneering contribution to astrophysics through their collaboration with Willy Fowler and Fred Hoyle (FRS 1957) on the origin of the chemical elements. Their famous and comprehensive B 2 FH paper of 1957 described the numerous nuclear processes that led to the synthesis of the heavy elements in stars, with element abundance values supported by decisive observational evidence. They went on to the University of Chicago/Yerkes, making pioneering observations of the kinematics of galaxies. In 1962, they both became tenured professors at the University of California at San Diego, their base for the rest of their careers. There, they were at the heart of the exciting early years of unravelling the properties of quasars, writing the first monograph on these objects in 1967. After an unhappy brief episode as the first woman director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in the UK, Margaret returned to San Diego, where she played a major role in the construction and exploitation of the faint object spectrograph of the Hubble Space Telescope, specializing in the study of the absorption line spectra of quasars. Most of her early papers were co-authored with Geoff, who supported her in every way throughout their happy marriage. In her understated way, she became a role model for women astronomers, breaking down the conscious and unconscious bias against women she encountered throughout her career. Margaret led by example and made every effort to support future generations of women astronomers.